Jesus Culture Band’s Kim Walker-Smith releases globally her first Christmas album, When Christmas Comes, today from Jesus Culture Music. The album nostalgically peers into Walker-Smith’s Christmastime with her 17 favorites of all newly-recorded classics and sacred carols, plus one new song, “Tell Me the Story,” written by Anthony Skinner. From cinematic, grand orchestral backdrops to plaintive folk-acoustic stylings and an occasional bluesy flair, all the tracks on the new album feature Kim’s powerful, soulful voice. Already gathering critical acclaim, the album immediately launches into the top 14 on the overall iTunes® Albums chart today, while firmly planting at No. 1 on the iTunes Holiday chart.

Ringing in the holiday season with classics like “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” and “Winter Wonderland” to sacred carols like “The First Noel” and “Away In A Manger,” Kim’s When Christmas Comes blends all the whimsy and nostalgia of her childhood along with her heart for worship.

“I know that at the core of who I am, I am a worship leader,” says Kim. “That part of me comes out naturally in these songs celebrating the whole reason for Christmas—Jesus, that He came to change our lives and set us free. The message of the gospel is the whole theme of Christmas and why we celebrate and what makes it so wonderful.”

For Kim, Christmas has also always been about family. “I don’t have a single Christmas memory that my family isn’t all together,” she continues. “No matter what kind of hardship we may have been going through, we were all together for Christmas.”

This Christmas will be especially significant for Kim as she and her husband, fellow worship leader Skyler Smith, are getting ready to welcome their second child into the world. Kim’s due date, ironically, is Christmas Day. “It’s so funny. Being a parent just changes Christmas for you,” Kim says. “It makes it even more exciting.”

Recording When Christmas Comes in-studio with 2014 Dove Award-winning producer Jeremy Edwardson (Michael W. Smith, Kari Jobe, Jesus Culture), songs like “Let It Snow,” “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and “White Christmas” featured on the album show another side of this versatile vocalist best-known for powerhouse worship anthems with Jesus Culture Band. Aside from collaborating with Skyler on the couple’s folk/Americana flavored album, Home, released amidst acclaim last year, Kim has recorded all of her albums to date live.

“The reason I always record live is because we’re trying to capture a moment in worship, but with this…it’s a little bit different,” the multi-Dove Award nominee explains. “We’re making something fun and creative, but an album that still carries my heart in worship. I wanted a mixture of both—songs that could show my heart of worship and songs that are just fun and a part of Christmas, a part of magical childhood memories.”

About Kim Walker-Smith:

The ministry of Jesus Culture has been at the core for Kim. She was on the forefront of what we now know as the Jesus Culture movement that began in the summer of 1999 when the youth group at Bethel Church in Redding, CA launched the inaugural Jesus Culture conference. Since then, Kim has been featured on 13 albums and has also been involved in releasing more than 25 projects on the Jesus Culture Music label, where she currently serves as president, and now operates out of Sacramento, CA.

In addition, Kim has also released two solo projects—2008’s critically-acclaimed Here Is My Song and 2013’s Still Believe, which debuted at No. 1 on the Christian retail chart and No. 5 on the overall iTunes chart. The album also helped spark the “Still Believe Tour,” which played back-to-back sold out concerts across the country and around the world, including in New York City (5/21/14, Best Buy Theater), Boston (5/22/14, House of Blues) and Toronto (5/24/14, Church on the Queensway).

Named one of the “Emerging Leaders of Tomorrow’s Church” by Charisma magazine (2010), her rendition of the song, “How He Loves,” has been viewed over 11 million times on YouTube.

Sacramento, CA-based Jesus Culture, directed by Banning Liebscher, is a ministry mobilizing a generation of revivalists and reformers who will shape culture and transform nations. It was formed organically through the momentum of a movement whose focus is to equip a generation to transform society by bringing people into an encounter with God’s love through worship and discipleship. Jesus Culture Music albums capture the heart of this movement. To date, the Jesus Culture band has recorded ten albums and released a total of 25 projects on their music label, including Jesus Culture Unstoppable Love, which released June 3 climbed to No. 2 on the iTunes overall “Top Albums” chart, hit No.25 on the Billboard Top 200 and No. 1 on the overall Top Christian/Gospel Albums Billboard retail chart. Additional information on Jesus Culture music and events can be found at www.jesusculture.com.